DUNKIRK

[Foureyes]

The Evacuation of Dunkirk is in the news this week. The following Old Blues are known to have been involved.
• Driver Brian Connor, RASC (ThA/PeA 1927-35), who is known to have been on the beach at Dunkirk and was last seen clinging to a piece of wreckage on 27 May 1940.

Others known to have been evacuated across the beaches and to have reached England were:
• Major RE Clarke, Queen’s (Peele A 1920-25). (He later died at Alamein, 1942).
• Corporal WAJ Clegg, Royal Signals (Maine B 1931-37)
• Lieutenant CD Davis, Royal Artillery (Thornton A 1929-35)
• Quartermaster-Sergeant PB Hooper, Royal Army Medical Corps (Middleton B 1926-33)
• Lieutenant GG Prince, Royal Artillery (Middleton A 1930-37)
• Second Lieutenant WC West, Royal Engineers (Coleridge A 1926-32)

The RAF was also very much involved and Old Blues included:
• Pilot Officer James Buchanan (BaB 1924-32) with 609 Squadron flying a Spitfire. He shot down a Messerschmit Bf-109 fighter and damaged a Henkel He-111 bomber over Dunkirk. He died only a few weeks later, being shot down over the Channel, 27 Jul 1940).
• Flight Lieutenant Michael Hamlyn, considered an outstanding fighter pilot, was wounded in the knee over Dunkirk and got back to the UK. He was medically downgraded and died on 8 Aug 42 while flying a target tug.
• Sergeant Robert Turner (Pe A 1925-32) flew 22 missions over Dunkirk as gunner in a Defiant fighter with 264 Squadron, and claimed five enemy shot down. He died on 28 Aug 40 over Kent.

There may well have been other Old Blues involved in Dunkirk, but I do not have the records.
David Miller

[Rex]

Major-General (as he became) Donald Wilson-Haffenden (Coleridge B 1911-16) was quartermaster-general at Dunkirk, leaving on the last destroyer out.